The mesmerizing pianist Jenny Lin will be performing selections from John King’s “Rubai’yat” series of solo piano and electronics pieces. These compositions are based on the “rubai”, an 11th century Arabic poetic form. The live electronics allow for improvisation and randomization of the material played by the pianist. Also on hand will be a string ensemble lead by King, performing new works involving composition, improvisation and a pair of dice.
JOHN KING, composer and guitarist, has had his music presented in many major festivals, including the tba/Time-Based Arts Festival (Portland, OR); Fronteras Festival (London); Next Wave Festival (NY); Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival (Hamburg); Intermedium 1 Festival (Berlin); Creative Time’s “Music in the Anchorage” (NY); Warsaw Autumn and Bang On A Can (NY). Mr. King’s experimental opera, “La Belle Captive”, based on texts by Alain Robbe-Grillet, was premiered in Buenos Aires at the Centro Experimental de Teatro Colon in April 2003, receiving further performances in London and NYC.
He has had many working bands over the years, including ELECTRIC WORLD (with Abe Speller and Jean Chaine), VIBROVERB (with Nioka Workman and Michael Wimberly), and KING KORTETTE (Jonathan Kane, Nicki Parrott and Christopher McIntyre), all blues/funk/jazz based. He plays lead guitar with the avant-blues group Deep Blue Sea, led by French avant-noise guitarist Jean-Francois Pauvros and art rock drummer extraordinaire Jonathan Kane; and also performed with : William Parker’s “Little Huey Creative Orchestra”, Butch Morris’ “Conduction #115 E-Mission”; Guy Klucevsek’s “Ain’t Nothin’ But A Polka” band; and Rhys Chatham’s 6-guitar band.
His commissions and collaborations include those for the Kronos Quartet; Red {an orchestra}, Ethel; the Albany Symphony/”Dogs of Desire”, Bang On A Can All-Stars; Mannheim Ballet; the Royal Danish Ballet; New York City Ballet/Diamond Project, Stuttgart Ballet, Ballets de Monte Carlo; SüdWestRundfunk (Baden-Baden), Pennsylvania Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. He has written music for the Clussgarten Theater in Ludwigsburg, Germany (Shakespeare’s “Tempest”, Goethe’s “Faust” and Hesse’s “Steppenwolf”) as well as Target Margin, in NYC and the Children’s Theater Company, in Mpls., MN.
He has received grants from the NEA/Music in Motion, New York State Council on the Arts, Jerome Foundation, Asian Cultural Council, Meet The Composer/Readers Digest Dance Commissioning Program, Minnesota Composers Forum, the Fund for US Artists at International Festivals, and New York Foundation for the Arts.
Mr. King curated the music for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s EVENTS at the Joyce Theater and at The Barbican Center in London. He was Music Curator at The Kitchen from 1999-2003 and is currently a co-director of the Music Committee at MCDC.
His radioplay “TORN/zerrisen” was commissioned by SüdWestRundfunk radio, Baden-Baden, Germany. His music can also be heard on HBO promoting the series “Deadwood”.